Says Wife Locked Him Up
"Baking Powder King" seeks Divorce, Alleging Imprisonment in Asylum.
Special to The Washinton Post

NEW YORK, June 6
A Los Angeles dispatch to the New York American says:
Robert Benson Davis, aged 78, a New York millionaire, who is known as the "baking powder king," has brought suit here for divorce against Jennie W. Davis, who is about 30 years his junior, charging that she tried to get rid of him by illegally confining him in an insane asylum. He escaped, he declares, with the aid of two trained nurses, one of whom, a Miss Arthur, of New York, is now with him.

The case will come to trial on June 16. Delphin M. Delmas, who gained fame as Harry Thaw's councel in his first trial, will defend Mrs. Davis.

It is understood that Mrs. Davis, her daughter, Lucretia, who is about 25 years old, and Mr. Delmas, are all en route from New York now.

Special to The Washinton Post
LOS ANGELES - June 9
Robert Benson Davis, a New York millionaire, who is known as the Baking Powder King, has brought suit here for divorce against Jennie W. Davis, charging that she tried to get rid of him by illegally confining him in an insane asylum.

He escaped, he declared, with the aid of two trained nurses, one of whom, a Miss Arthur, of New York, is now with him.

The case will come to trail on June 16. Delphin M. Delmas, who gained fae as Harry Thaw's chief counsel in his first trial, will defend Mrs. Davis. It is understood that Mrs. Davis, her daughter, Lucretia, who is about twenty-five years old, and Mr. Delmas are all enroute from New York now. The Davis home is 330 Riverside Drive, New York City.

Robert Benson Davis is seventy-eight years old. His wife is about thirty years his junior. Their difficulties are well known among their friends in the East. The friends have no hesitancy in declaring that the septuagenarian is eager for a divorce, so that he may marry Miss Arthur, his nurse.

Two of our relatives caused all the trouble, explained the aged millionair in an interview last fall, when he was living in Summit, N. J. "They kept at my wife for months, trying to ave her get rid of me. They said I was insane. I underwent an examination by Drs. McDonald and Hamilton, two eminent alienists, and they said there was nothing whatever the matter with my mind. Then I traveled around the country trying to have myself cured of asthma, from which I have long suffered. My wife tried to make out that I was out of my mind, and actually locked me up in our home at Summit.

"But, taking two revolvers in case of trouble - I didn't have to use them - and disguising myself in the garments of one of the physicians summoned, I managed to get out of the Summit house with my nurses and got into New York State."

Mr. Davis went to California not long after this incident and established there a legal residence, in order that he might bring suit.

At the Davis residence here it was said that Mrs. Davis and her daughter had "gone West," which verified the Los Angeles dispatch that they had gone to defend the suit.

01 Jan 1862 FROM OUR BOYS -- The boys are now in Madison where they are undergoing their basic training.

26 Mar 1862 From the Northern Lights, Co F, 16th Regt, Wisconsin Volunteers. Arrived in St. Louis on the 14th Mar, Saturday afternoon. They embarked on the Steamer "Planet" for some place in Tennessee, where, we doubt not, the 16th will at once see active and in all probability bloody service.

02 Apr 1862 FROM THE BOYS -- We received a line from a member of Co F, 16th Regiment. It was written at Ft. Henry, Tennessee, on Wed, 19 Mar. The Regiment was then on a steamboat, bound for Savannah, Tennessee, whence they were to march to Florence, Alabama... 23 Apr 1862 WOUNDED IN ACTION - 16th Reg, Co F: Killed - H. E. CARY. Wounded - S. Monroe (slightly)

23 Apr 1862 THE PITTSBURGH BATTLE - From the "Northern Lights" - We havereceived a letter from one of the officers or Company F Sixteenth regiment, written on Wednesday after the battle. Everything relating to the "great slaughter" is of interest to our readers; therefore we give this letter nearly entire, although we have already devoted considerable space to the same subject.

Our friend says: You will have heard by telegraph that we have had a Waterloo at this place. Amid the confusion that a great and bloody battle has left us in, with hundreds of dead to be buried and thousands of wounded to be cared for by our troops, I and everyone here are so entirely occupied that I have time to write but little. Yet, knowing the anxiety of friends in Juneau county, I take a few moments, which should be devoted to rest, to inform you of such facts as I am personally acquainted with. We all wanted a chance to fight, and we have had it. We wanted to see a battle field. Few want to see another such as I have just left. I thought I had some idea of the scene of horror a battle must present. I confess that I had no conception of it. You know that I am not skilled in the art of writing lucid, interesting, scenic descriptions; but this I can say, that no pen can describe, nor can the imagination conceive, the intensity of horror that has been presented us since Sunday morning.

We of the Sixteenth knew not that we were near to the enemy. Our regiment was one of the farthest out from the Tennessee River, consequently the most exposed. Four companies were out all Saturday night on picket duty. Early on Sunday the enemy attacked and drove them in. Captain SAXE, of Company A, his Orderly and others fell at the first fire of the enemy, and almost before they knew that an enemy was present.

The firing being heard at our camp, the other six companies at once fell into line. We had hardly formed when the enemy opened upon us with artillery and a galling fire of musketry. I am proud to say that the Sixteenth, although surprised, stood their ground. Our boys were but just out of their tents, some of them not wholly dressed, but they never fell back until ordered to do so. We received no reinforcements until we had been driven back for nearly a mile. Before thisour Lieut. Colonel had been carried from the field badly wounded, and we had lost perhaps one hundred or more of our small force.

Capt. Train was badly wounded, the ball entering his cheek and lodging in his neck. The oldest CAREY boy was killed at almost the first fire. John McNOWN has died since the battle of wounds he received, and so has F. PREVEY. John McINTIRE was badly wounded in the face; E. A. DERAN in the leg; J. THATCHER in the thigh; S. MONROE in the arm; S. PLUMMERin the hand. The ball has not yet been taken out. He had been two days on the boat, and had nothing done for him, (of course nobody is to blame!) so I sent for him to come to out camp, and he is now doing well. S. LONG is wounded in the leg; G. SPEED in the forehead, but not badly; McMURTY in the shoulder; McCALL in th(missing) now in the hospitals, and the dead have been buried. The number I have no means ofestimating. It must be the result of the fight of course you know. The main facts you will have received by telegraph long ere this reaches you. When I can get paper, if the ague will let me, I will write again. 7 MAY 1862 SHAME! SHAME! -

Newspaper
Editorial Note: We call attention to the letter from Pittsburgh Landing published in this issue. The writer is one well know to our citizens. He was till lately the publisher of this paper, and is now commanding the company in the 16th regiment sent from this place. His statements carry weight with all who know him.

Mrs. Helen M. SARGENT, who has been keeping house for her son, Homer SARGENT, and living at 153 East Bacon street, fell down cellar last night about 9:00 o'clock and broke her neck and death followed soon after. The skull was fractured and her shoulder bone broken. A doctor was hastily summoned and she breathed but a few minutes after his arrival. The cellar is reached by means of a trap door and Mrs. SARGENT stepped off into space, not knowing that the door was open. Funeral services will be held tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock, at the United Bretheren Church at Frontier. Rev. Snyder officiating and interment will be in the Frontier cemetery. The deceased was aged 76 years, 2 months and ? days. The SARGENTs have lived in Hillsdale about a year, the home having formerly been in Frontier, the son being a flour packer at Stock's Mills, Mrs. SARGENT was the daughter of Martin CARY. Her husband died and she had been living with her son, since the deaths of his wife four years ago, and looking after his three children. She had not been well for some time. There is a brother living in California.

LOS ANGELES, Sept 27
Judge Walter Bordwell in the Superior Court denied to-day the petition of Mrs. Jennie W. Davis, wife of Robert Benton Davis, a wealthy New Yorker, for a monthly allowance of $5,000. pending action for divorce

The court ruled that Mrs. Davis's action in driving her husband from his Riverside Drive home in September, 1908, while he was ill, showed conclusively that she was not entitled to any allowance.

Robert Benson Davis, who is 70 years old, lives at 330 Riverside Drive, and has a Summer residence in Summit, N. J. He owns a baking powder plant in Hoboken. In June, 1911, Mrs. Davis, who is thirty years his junior, had him confined in his home at Summit because of alleged insanity, according to his allegations. Disguised as a physician and accompanied by two nurses in uniform, he eluded the hired caretakers, and took a train for Los Angeles, where he began suit for divorce.

Judge Monroe on June 15, 1911, denied his plea for a divorce on the ground that he had not established a legal residence in California, and that he came there to get a divorce. In July Mrs. Davis filed a suit for separate maintenance, and Judge Wilks ordered that she receive a monthly allowance of $1,500, also $1,500 for costs, and $10,000 for attorney fees. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had a daughter, Lucretia.

The sudden death of Mrs. Robert Benson Davis of 330 Riverside Drive at Santa Monica, Cal., is announced this morning. Mrs. Davis was the wife of a baking powder manufacturer, 73 years old, and was many years his junior.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis were involved in a sensational divorce action, following Mr. Davis's confinement in his home at Summit, N. J., in June, 1911, because of alleged insanity. Disguised as a physician and accompanied by two nurses in uniform, he eluded the hired caretakers and took a train for Los Angeles, where he started a suit for divorce. His plea was denied on the ground that he had not established a legal residence in California.

In July, 1911, Mrs. Davis filed a suit for separate maintenanance. Judge Wilkes ordered that she receive a monthly allowance of $1,500. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had a daughter, Lucretia.

History of Benson County Missouri, Uel W Lamkin
1919, pg. 786

BIOGRAPHY on L. D. POWERS
L. D. Powers - Among the rich agricultural districts of Missouri, Henry County must ever take a prominent place with regard to the imprtance and values of its farm products. This is due not only to its natural resources, but to the painstaking effors of its citizens. Among those who have helped in developing this great agricultural county L. D. Powers holds a prominent place. He was born May 8, 1869, on the farm where he now resides, the son of John R. and Clarissa I. (Benson) Powers. John R. Powers was born in Troy, New York, in 1827 and his wife was born in the same State in 1837. They met and were married in 1867 in [pg.787] Minnesota. In 1868 they settled in shawnee township, on the farm whee they reared their family and spent the greater part of their own life. Mr. Powers was a large land owner, owning over six hundred acres at the time of his death, in 1895. His wife passed away in 1898. They had two children: Linden D., of this sketch, and Mrs. Etta Wolf, of Waukomis, Oklahoma. By a former marriage to Miss Williams, Mr. Powers had four children, as follow: Charles E., of Lawrence, Kansas; Mrs. Carrie L Barker, deceased; Erectus, deceased, and Dr. John, of Kansas City, Missouri.

Mr. Powers was reared and educated in the schools of Shawnee township, also attending the University at Columbia, Missouri. After leaving school he came to his father's farm and has confined his efforts to a successful farming business. Mr. Powers is farming two hundred forty acres of land, which is well improved with new buildings which he built.

In 1895 L. D. Powers and Mary Alice Eagleson were united in marriage and they have three children: Ralph, Mary Alice and Minnie May, at home with their parents. Mrs. Powers was born in Henry County, the daughter of James and Adaline (Eager) Eagleson. James Eagleson was born in Sherman, Ohio, and settled in Henry County in 1866. He farmed for many years but is now laid to rest. He passed away in 1916. The mother of Mrs. Powers makes her home with her daughter. She had three children, as follow: Mrs. C. H. Kensinger, Rockville, Missouri; Luther, of shawnee township, Henry County, and Mary Alice, now Mrs. L. D. Powers.

Mr. Powers is township trustee and has served his friends and neighbors for the past three years in that capacity. He belongs to the Masonic Lodge and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks No. 1043, Clinton, Missouri.

Page 789

BIOGRAPHY on S. R. BENSON
S. R. Benson. - The family tree of the Benson family has its roots in the earliest history of our Nation, members of which have given their lives to evolve this great democratic Government. S. R. Benson was born in 1844 in Jackson County, Iowa, the son of John and Almeda (Green) Benson. John Benson and his wife were among the pioneers of Iowa, settling upon her broad prairies when men laughed at the mere possibility of it ever being an agricultural country. John Benson was born in 1796 in Cattaraugus County, New York, and his wife was born in Green County, New York, in 1810. Mrs. Almeda Green was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier who was captured by the British and taken into Canada, a prisoner of war. He effected his escape and crossed the Niagara River back into his own country. For many days he was dependent upon nature for food, eating the berries and bark of the trees. Such privations wee endured by the men who fought for liberty.

John and Almeda (Green) Benson are both deceased and are buried in Grundy County, Iowa. They were the parents of twelve children: Ursula, married Edwin Parker in Hardin County, Iowa; Sylvia, wife of J. Linley, Bloomington, Illinois; Matilda, Bloomington, Illinois; Effie Swayne of Hardin County, Iowa; Solon F., a banker of Pierson, Iowa; Horace J., lives in Kentucky, and S. R., the subject of this sketch.

S. R. Benson was reared and educated in Delaware County, Iowa, where his parents lived for some time. In 1864, when only a lad of twenty and the fire of adventure burning high within his breast, he left the parental roof to explore the western lands. He crossed the Missouri at Omaha, Nebraska, and followed the Platte river until he reached his destination in Montana. The slow and steady ox team was his conveyance and the stars by night his shelter. S. R. Benson and his brother, Edwin, started on this trip across the plains together. The brother died on the plains and S. R. was left alone. He continued on alone, taking his brother's body with him until he came upon a party of campers who helped him make a rough coffin out of a wagon box and assisted in the burial. Leaving the lone grave of his brother by the side of the trail on the desert, Mr. Benson continued his journey westward until he reached Virginia City, Montana. Four years and eight months later he returned to Hardin County, Iowa, where he was married to Lucinda Griffith and again they left their home to visit the state of Colorado. His wife died in Colorado, leaving two sons: Lester S. and Charles W., who reside at Stewart, Wyoming. Mr. Benson remained in Colorado until 1884, when he went to [pg.790] Washington County, Kansas, and farmed until 1903, when he came to Shawnee twp., Henry County.

September 29, 1886, S. R. Benson married Mary Catherine Woods, a native of Jewell County, Kansas, and a daughter of Richard and Mary J. Woods, both deceased. Her father died in 1860 in Iowa and her mother, who married Obed Hastings after her first husband died in Jewell County, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Benson have two sons: R. H. and Vernon B., both serving in the United States Army in the World War.

Mr. Benson is the owner of four hundred forty acres of well improved land on which he has made wonderful improvements since his possession of same. A portion of his land is farmed by a tenant, who has a new home and buildings built for him. Mr. Benson is a Democrat and one of Henry County's foremost citizens.

The marriage of Miss Kay Masters and Robert E. McCrea took place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, at the Trinity Methodist Church. The Rev. Segard E Burch Jr. performed the double ring ceremony in a candlelight setting enhanced by baskets arrangements of white chrysanthemums and gladioli.

The bride, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chester Masters of 2431 W. Platte Ave. was given in marriage by her father. The bridegroom is the son of David S. McCrea of East Rochester, Pa and the late Mrs. McCrea.

Nuptial music included the processional and recessional, and "I Love You Truly." and "If The Sands of the Desert Grow Cold."

The bride's floor length gown of white slipper satin was styled with billowing princess skirt and chapel train which fell from the neckline. The bodice was snugly fitted and the sleeves long and pointed. Her circular veil of imported English silk illusion was fingertip length, and attached to a queen's crown of aurora borealis crystals. She wore a cut crystal necklace which was a figt from the bridegroom, and carried white roses and stephanous.

Janet West as maid of honor wore a dress of hedge silk organza styled with bell skirt, cap sleeves and accented at the waistline with a brown satin cummerband attached at the back with a satin rose. Her matching satin chp hat was rimmed with a cireular red and she carried yellow gladioli and roses. Barbara Miller, Patty Zenia and Sharon Jackson as bridesmaids wore gowns identical with that of the maid of honor, and carried similar bouquets. Debby DeWitt was flower girl was similarly attired, and Randy DeWitt was ring bearer. Don Masters and Frank Kelly lighted the candles.

Richard Perkins attended the bridegroom as best man and the ushers were Don Masters, brother of the bride, Frank Kelly and Pete Johns.

The bride's mother, wearing a sheath of beige brocade, with brown accessories received the guests at the reception which was held in the church parlor. Her corsage was of yellow rose buds. Assisting in serving were Mrs. Ol Lanman, who served the punch; Mrs. Ralph Walters and Mrs. Reo Zentz who served the cake. Miss Betty Linton who was in charge of the guest book and Mrs. Ray Killingsworth who presided at the gift table.

Following a honeymoon in Denver, Mr. and Mrs. McCrea will live at 1226 W. Colorado Ave. The bride chose for traveling a navy blue knit suit with matching accessories and a corsage of white roses.

The bridegroom attended Genevs College at Bever Falls, Pa.

Guests from other cities were David McCrea, father of the bridegroom, David McCrea Jr., his brother, Mrs. Chester Kitsmiller, of Winnoa?, Kan., mother of the bride and Miss Janet West of Batesville?, Ark.

The color stems used in the center piece of gladiola and chrysanthemums and on the three tier wedding cake was of melon and white.

RUBY KILLINGSWORTH, 96, of Colorado Springs died June 27, 1993 at a local hospital She was a homemaker.

Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today at Swan-Law Funeral Home, 501 N. Cascade Ave. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Swan-Law chapel with the Rev. Dale Hency officiating. Burial will be at Memorial Gardens mausoleum. Swan-Law is handling arrangements.

Mrs. Killingsworth was born Oct. 16, 1896 in Dade County, Mo., to Ananias Benson and Celia (Kitsmiller) Masters.

She had lived in the area since 1940. She also had lived in Missouri and California.

She was married Sept. 2, 1919, in Greenfield, Missouri to Elvis Dee Killingsworth, who is deceased.

She is survived by a son, Robert Ray of Colorado Springs; a brother, Chester of Colorado Springs; one grandson; and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to Vista Grande Church of God, 4870 Flintridge Drive, Colorado Springs 80918